September 9, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Chateau Ste. Michelle to celebrate 50 years
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Courtesy of Chateau Ste. Michelle
Chateau Ste. Michelle is Washington state’s largest winery and will
celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017.
435.760.5545
ALL STEEL PIPE• Nibley, UT
contracts.
Chateau Ste. Michelle
owns two estate vineyards
— Cold Creek Vineyard
north of the Tri-cities and the
of the leading attractions in
the state, drawing 300,000
visitors each year.
“They come for the expe-
rience as well as the wines.
It’s common to see people
out on the grounds picnick-
ing and enjoying the wines.
We also host a popular sum-
mer concert series at that
winery,” he said.
“We also sell wholesale
to retailers and restaurants,
and
direct-to-consumer
sales online through our
website,” he said. “Many
consumers enjoy the conve-
nience of purchasing wine
online, but the challenge re-
volves around which states
you can ship wine to, and to
whom, and how much. This
can be complicated, with a
patchwork of regulation that
is difficult to navigate.”
To support continued
growth in the industry, the
wine industry and Chateau
Ste. Michelle have invested
heavily in research, in the
Wine Science Center at the
Washington State Univer-
sity Tri-Cities campus. The
center opened a couple years
ago as a dedicated wine re-
search facility.
“It is already producing
research to help improve
quality and to maintain the
growth that the industry has
enjoyed,” said Pennington.
Demand for Washing-
ton wines, and for Cha-
teau Ste. Michelle wines,
is as strong as it’s ever
been.
“This is a growing in-
dustry, and the challenge is
to supply that demand. It all
starts in the vineyards, so we
are planting more and pro-
ducing more. All signs point
to a very healthy future,” he
said.
Gases used in the wine making process.
Cooling the Grapes
- in the vineyard during harvest.........................................................CO 2 Snow or
& prior to crushing..........................................................................Dry Ice Pellets
In the Horizontal Press
Blanketing the Must..................................................................CO 2 , Gas or Snow
Stabilizing the Must...........................................................................................SO 2
Temperature Control....................................................................CO 2 Snow or
during fermentation in open top fermentors..................................Dry Ice Pellets
Aging Wine
Purge barrels..............................................................................Argon, CO 2 or N 2
Preserve barrels..................................................................................................SO 2
SO 2 adjustments.......................................................Sulfuric Acid (6% solution)
Pressure Transfers.................................................................................................N 2
Blending
Blanketing of storage tanks...................................................Argon, N 2 , Bev-Mix
Sparge the wine to adjust CO 2 levels...................................O 2 , CO 2 , N 2 , Bev-Mix
Stabilize Finished Wine...............................................................................SO 2
Blanket Bottling Tank........................................................Argon, N 2 , Bev-Mix
Bottling – purge bottles to lower O 2 ..............................Argon, CO 2 , N 2 , Bev-Mix
Winery Maintenance.................................Oxy/Acetylene, Argon & Mixtures
Tasting Room
- Blanketing open wine bottles to prevent oxydation.................................Bev-Mix
Call your local OXARC sales representative today.
or shop online:
Moses Lake, WA
Pasco, WA
Sunnyside, WA
509-765-9247
509-547-2494
509-837-6212
Walla Walla, WA
Wenatchee, WA
Yakima, WA
509-529-3060
509-662-8417
509-248-0827
V16-1/#14
quality as well as dedicated
marketing efforts — to open
more markets for Washing-
ton wines around the country
and around the world,” Pen-
nington said.
A dedicated staff creates
a successful team effort.
Chateau Ste. Michelle’s
head
winemaker,
Bob
Bertheau, splits his time be-
tween Western and Eastern
Washington.
“We also have head wine-
makers for both the white
wines and red wines, under
Bob, and they oversee pro-
duction at those respective
facilities,” Pennington said.
“In addition, they have a
host of assistant winemakers
and vineyard personnel.”
Some of the vineyards are
owned by the company and
some are under long-term
V16-4/T1D
Chateau Ste. Michelle,
Washington state’s largest
winery, will celebrate its
50th anniversary in 2017.
Ryan Pennington, direc-
tor of communications, says
the company has several
properties in Washington,
Oregon and California.
“We are also importers
of wine from France, New
Zealand, Italy, Spain and
Chile,” he said.
In Washington, the prop-
erty in Woodinville is where
visitors can experience the
wines, and this is where the
white wines are produced.
The red wines are produced
in a winery in Eastern Wash-
ington, at Paterson.
Chateau Ste. Michelle
grew out of a merger of
Pomerelle Wine Co. and the
National Wine Co., whose
roots go back to 1934 after
the repeal of Prohibition,
Pennington said.
“After they merged, they
introduced the Ste. Michelle
Vineyards label, made from
traditional Old World grape
varieties, as opposed to the
fruit wine they had been
producing,” he said. “This
set the stage for quality
wine grape production in
Washington.”
Vineyards are now well
established in the North-
west, and the industry has
seen tremendous growth.
“This has been driven by
continual improvements in
Canoe Ridge Estate vineyard
near the winery at Paterson.
“The percentage of vine-
yards that we actually own
as a company is relatively
small, but most of our con-
tract vineyards are farmed
exclusively for us by part-
ner growers,” he said.
“Much of our wine is
sold direct to consumers
through our winery tasting
rooms,” he said. “The win-
ery at Woodinville is the
principal tasting room for
Chateau Ste. Michelle, but
each of our wineries has a
tasting room. Consumers
like to experience where
the grapes are grown and
the wines are made. People
can look behind the curtain
a little and see the process
behind it.”
The tasting room in
Woodinville is a popular
tourist destination and one